Aurora fend off Astralis in Magisk debut

A comeback on Dust2 was not to be as the Danes let an opportunity to grab an upset slip.

The first day of FISSURE Playground 2 in Belgrade, Serbia has concluded with Aurora rounding off the first half of round 1 matches with a 2-1 win over Astralis.

The Turks were made to work for the win by the Danish squad, who looked more than competitive in their debut since Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif made his return to the organization following Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund's decision to step away over personal reasons.

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Astralis confirm Magisk return

Astralis struck first on Nuke off the back of an inspired performance from Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen, who got his team rolling with a key 1v2 clutch early on the T side and ended the map on 20 kills to lead the way to a 13-8 win.

And they had the chance to close it in two after pulling off a comeback from a 3-11 deficit on Dust2 all the way to overtime, as the Astralis captain added another clutch to his name, showcasing his aim at long range:

Aurora ultimately persevered in overtime after letting the big lead slip, courtesy of Ismailcan "⁠XANTARES⁠" Dörtkardeş and Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın, and went on to dominate the T side of Overpass, this time withstanding Astralis' attempt to overturn their bad start.

Before the two teams discover their opponents in round 2, the second half of round 1 matches will take place on Saturday. You can find the schedule here.

Eyes on Staehr to rediscover his form

Crucial to the new Astralis lineup finding success is Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr, who has more pressure than ever on his shoulders to make up for the missing firepower from stavn.

He had already shown patchy form after swapping some defensive roles with Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard to see more action, and although not much has changed for him following stavn's departure, he has gotten off to the wrong foot in Serbia with a 0.74 rating over the three-map series.